Wednesday, January 14th 2009

Intel Atom N280 Details Surface

Back in June 2008, when Intel Introduced the Atom N270, reviewers found its level of performance sufficient for ULPC applications back then. Over a period of six months, it became evident that ULPCs require to deliver a little more than just internet applications. With Intel being reluctant on porting the dual-core Atom to ULPC, owing to its thermal characteristics, there is a need for stepping up the performance level of its relatively cooler single-core Atom.

Therefore, Atom N280. Earlier speculations pointed out that this chip would merely come with a multiplier boost sending its clock speed to 1.86 GHz against 1.60 GHz of its predecessor, but it turns out that Intel was looking to expand the FSB of the existing N270, with a minor clock speed increase. The Atom N280 features a broader 667 MHz FSB against the 533 MHz the N270 comes with. It ends up with a clock speed of 1.66 GHz. While N270 achieved its 1.60 GHz with (12 x 133 MHz), N280 does it with (10 x 166 MHz). Hypothetically, a future model with a 12x FSB multiplier could set the clock speed at 2.00 GHz. What's more, Intel gets rid of the i945GSE chipset infamous for thermal characteristics increasingly unsuitable for ULPCs. It has been replaced with the supposedly cooler GN40 chipset. The N280 has begun surfacing on specification sheets of upcoming ASUS Eee PC models, but it will be only by 2Q, 2009 by the time we start seeing products based on it. Paired with the GN40, the Atom N280 is expected to be priced at US $60-65.
Source: DigiTimes
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36 Comments on Intel Atom N280 Details Surface

#26
Wile E
Power User
DaJMastaNot necessarily, while I had thought so for a while, most of the early dual core atom benchies came up with minimal performance gains, and a near 100% gain in power consumption of the chip. While it would help things, don't get me wrong, I don't think it's worth the price for the comparatively small performance gains you would get out of it.

A new chipset is certainly a step in the right direction, that was the weakness of the current Atom platform, but the speed bump is nice too, especially if it's got the same TDP.


Just have to wait for a Core 2 style architecture like the Conroe L Celerons.... even if it's not the full thing, the power per clock would be high enough to give the Atom a great performance boost.
The things I do would benefit from a dual core. The only reason I haven't bought a netbook yet is because the cpu is too weak.
MusselsUnless you know something i dont, there is no such software that works with MKV files.
Zoom Player and MPC Home Theatre can be configured to use gpu acceleration thru ffmpeg. You have to enable VMR9 as the video renderer, iirc. The Haali renderer may be able to do it as well. The standard overlay does not accelerate.
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#27
Mussels
Freshwater Moderator
Wile EZoom Player and MPC Home Theatre can be configured to use gpu acceleration thru ffmpeg. You have to enable VMR9 as the video renderer, iirc. The Haali renderer may be able to do it as well. The standard overlay does not accelerate.
i am yet to see that working. feel free to PM me what version of FFMPEG works with this, and i'll happily test it.
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#28
Weer
Wile EZoom Player and MPC Home Theatre can be configured to use gpu acceleration thru ffmpeg. You have to enable VMR9 as the video renderer, iirc. The Haali renderer may be able to do it as well. The standard overlay does not accelerate.
Okay, I enabled VMR9. Before: 15% CPU utilization. After: 15% CPU utlization.
Is there something else I have to do?
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#29
newtekie1
Semi-Retired Folder
WeerWhat choice do we have? 95% of all video files these days come in MKV format.
By "come" I assume you mean the ones you download illegally...:laugh: Don't complain if you are getting it for free.

If you encode them yourself, like you should, and not stealing them, you can pick any container you want. All my 720p and 1080p rips from my Blu-Ray movies are in good ol' MP4 format.
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#31
Weer
newtekie1By "come" I assume you mean the ones you download illegally...:laugh: Don't complain if you are getting it for free.

If you encode them yourself, like you should, and not stealing them, you can pick any container you want. All my 720p and 1080p rips from my Blu-Ray movies are in good ol' MP4 format.
Like I "should"? Who are you to tell people who download what they should or should not do? I, conversely, think you should download and not encode them yourself.
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#32
Mussels
Freshwater Moderator
where i am, its more legal to download a backup from the net than it is to rip the disks. Its breaking more laws to break the encryption, than it is to download a copy of a movie i already own.

Also, i download anime that *is* legal because its not licenced in english yet - i can hardly rip those myself even if i wanted to.

anyway this is going far off topic. short version is: hardware decoding works only under very specific circumstances, and that limits the usefulness of single core atom systems for HD media use.
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#33
Wile E
Power User
Musselsi am yet to see that working. feel free to PM me what version of FFMPEG works with this, and i'll happily test it.
I just did some testing, and I must have remembered that incorrectly. It doesn't seem to be working. I'm wondering if it was CoreAVC now.

At any rate, VLC does accelerate mkv with H.264. I just tested it with a 720P rip of GITS. 4% cpu usage. The option for hardware acceleration is right in the preferences. I've been using it more often, as it actually handles most subs properly now. There were only a couple I had problems with.

I'll be installing CoreAVC soon to see if it had acceleration.


EDIT: Upon further tinkering with CoreAVC, I have no idea how I managed gpu accelerated playback in Zoom before. lol. The only thing I can figure is maybe it was connecting to the Cyberlink filter. At any rate, VLC does work.
newtekie1If you encode them yourself, like you should, and not stealing them, you can pick any container you want. All my 720p and 1080p rips from my Blu-Ray movies are in good ol' MP4 format.
I encode my stuff in MKV. MP4 doesn't have proper subtitle support (and by proper, I mean styled subs like Advanced Sub Station Alpha)
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#34
Mussels
Freshwater Moderator
VLC is good news. i'd love to use it, except it cant pass through digital audio like DTS.

damn, the one working player and i cant use it!
Posted on Reply
#35
Wile E
Power User
MusselsVLC is good news. i'd love to use it, except it cant pass through digital audio like DTS.

damn, the one working player and i cant use it!
Are you sure? There's an S/PDIF output option.
Posted on Reply
#36
Mussels
Freshwater Moderator
Wile EAre you sure? There's an S/PDIF output option.
it doesnt work, and hasnt for ages. google or check their forums, its full of people complaining that it hasnt worked for ages and you only get static/stuttering audio.

They just dont follow the standards properly, or something. I guess its low priority.
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